GUEST COMMENTARY: Hudson Yards – Setting the Record Straight (or Don’t Doubt its Success)

I was motivated to respond to an article by Robert Kuttner on The American Prospect website that in general argued that a tax-subsidized project was facing impending collapse which could provide an opportunity for affordable housing. I have no problem with the author disliking Hudson Yards and he wouldn’t be the first or only one to do so. I believe, however, that the American Prospect piece contains misinformation on the Hudson Yards project. This article … <Read More>


City Planning Holds Public Hearing for Addition of Dialysis Center to Nursing Home in Sheepshead Bay

The application will add square footage in the basement but not change the height of the building. On July 14, 2021, the City Planning Commission heard an application for an upgrade in residential rezoning to allow for the construction of a dialysis center and other changes at the Sheepshead Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at 2840 Knapp Street in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. 


City Begins Construction on First of Borough-Based Jails in Kew Gardens

The structure will provide over 600 parking spaces and 25,000 square feet of flexible community space. On June 25, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the start of construction at one of the City’s four borough-based jails sites in Kew Gardens, Queens. The borough-based jails are part of the City’s controversial solution to shut down Rikers Island and replace the complex with four smaller, locally based jails in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. The <Read More>


Coney Island Wastewater Facility to Receive Upgrades

The upgrades will help replace pumps that were originally installed in the 1980s. On July 6, 2021, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection announced that work was in progress for upgrades at the Coney Island Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility. The work will include reliability and energy efficiency upgrades for a facility that serves a 15,087 acre drainage area in southern and central Brooklyn. The facility, which currently uses over 30 year-old pumps, handles 110 million <Read More>


Council Approves Bill to Require Board of Standards and Appeals to Record Decisions

The bill provides better transparency and helps potential purchasers and agents. On June 17, 2021, the New York City Council passed a bill to require the City’s Board of Standards and Appeals to record a copy of a decision affecting a parcel of land made by the Board in the appropriate title recording system. The bill, Int. 2257-2021, will require the Board to record the decision with the Automatic City Register Information System (ACRIS) for <Read More>


Pub fined for music level

Music from a Crown Heights Pub violated music noise level limits inside a residential building. A new tenant moved into a residential building in Crown Heights and complained about the music coming from the adjacent building, the Nostrand Avenue Pub located at 658 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn. The residential building owner had recently renovated the residential units. The Pub’s sound system included four Infinity speakers and one iPhone. Prior to the new tenant’s complaints, the Pub … <Read More>